Tyres played vital role in Button’s sensational Canadian Grand Prix victory

Jenson Button won a sensational victory at the Canadian Grand Prix tonight and Pirelli’s tyres played a key role in the drama.

It was the first time the teams had used Pirelli’s wet tyres in a race that included a two hour rain delay, had five safety car sessions and lasted for nearly four hours – it even kept the Antiques Roadshow off BBC1.

McLaren driver Button defied the odds to overtake race leader Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel on the last lap of the race – despite taking a staggering six trips through the pit lane, including one for a drive-through penalty.

The rain, which had been falling all morning in Montreal, stopped about half an hour before the race began, but the track was still very damp and extreme wet tyres were the order of the day.

Button switched to intermediates after a collisions with team-mate Lewis Hamilton, but soon after that the skies opened and a torrential downpour drove the teams to switch back to a fresh set of the extreme wets.

The race was suspended and resumed after two hours under the safety car with all cars required to fit extreme wet tyres, but within no time the teams were switching back to intermediates and ended up finishing the race on super-softs.